How to Encourage your Children to Read

Reading is an important skill and an inexpensive and lasting form of recreation. Taking the time now to encourage a love of reading in your children is a wonderful way to enrich their lives in the future. Here are some tips to help you turn that reluctant reader into a bookworm!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Enjoy reading yourself. If your child often sees you with a book in your hands, he will be more likely to read simply by your example.

2. Before your child is old enough to read for himself, cultivate a love of books by reading aloud to him. This is also a good time to teach proper book care! (“We turn the pages carefully,” etc.)

3. I would not recommend this as a permanent strategy, but with young children and books of few pages, money is a great incentive to a reluctant reader! You could make a sticker chart with goals of five or ten books to earn a prize. However, make it clear that this is not a permanent arrangement. Encourage your child to read because he wants to, not because he’ll get something.

4. Start at a low reading level that will be easy for your child. You can gradually bring him to a higher level as his confidence and interest in reading increases.

5. Begin reading a book aloud, or read parts of it aloud, to pique your child’s interest in the story. He just might decide to finish the book himself!

6. What does your child enjoy doing or talking about? Tailor your book recommendations to suit his interests. Even a child who has difficulty reading is likely to persevere if the book holds his attention.

7. When your child has read and enjoyed a book, find similar books to suggest to him, or books by the same author. (“If you liked that book, you might like this one, too!)

8. Take your child book shopping with you, and let him choose some books that he thinks he would enjoy. Thrift stores often have a good selection of low priced books for children and young readers.

9. Be extreme: turn off or limit tv/video games/computer games. These things are giant pulls away from reading! Don’t however, say “No more tv until you read this book!”--that’s a sure way to make your child view reading as drudgery!

10. You can use movies or computer games to your advantage. Encourage your child to read the book or story a movie was based on, or other similar books.

[cadence]

on 11/8/2008 Great tips. Reading is really important.

[iamageniuster]

on 11/5/2008 Nice article. Thanks for sharing.